


Bitten

by oursisthefury



Category: Luke Cage (TV)
Genre: F/M, I like shades but I want to see him suffer, and snakes, just shades freaking out, shades and mariah is implied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-29 09:42:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8484532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oursisthefury/pseuds/oursisthefury
Summary: Shades is haunted by Cottonmouth's death in his dreams.





	

At first Cottonmouth's murder had not bothered him. As he told Mariah, he had been planning to do it but she beat him to it but that had been then and this was now. Too often he awoke covered in sweat because of the visions he saw in his dreams. The snakes that coiled around his body, the way they constricted him and plunged their teeth into his skin, filling his veins up with poison. They had cold black eyes and their bites were even colder.

Shades had woken up that day screaming. He shot out of bed breathing hard, gasping and holding his throat as sweat ran down his face. Cottonmouth had had his hand around Shades throat, his grip had felt so real. He had come at Shades out of nowhere, and his hand had been so cold. But his eyes were alive, and hungry, and full of vengeance. "You'll get yours." He had hissed, his teeth were so white and glaring. He had squeezed Shades throat so hard that he thought he was going to die until he woke up.

He headed towards the bathroom and examined his neck in the mirror, there were marks on it, big and red, as though Cottonmouth had actually been crushing it. He shivered as he touched the marks, he knew that they shouldn't be possible and yet they were there. His arms itched and he pulled up his sleeves, revealing marks that weren't there before. They were tiny, and there were many, consistent with snake bites. Before Cottonmouth came, there had been snakes biting him and constricting him as they usually did but never had there actually been marks from the attacks. Everything had changed now that Cottonmouth was there, now the dreams were real enough to leave marks.

Shades splashed cold water in his face, trying to calm down, he was even paler than usual, deathly really. He tried to tell himself that he was just imagining things but it didn't seem like it, his skin was crawling and he couldn't stop thinking about Cottonmouth's face. He composed himself enough to get dressed and tried to eat some breakfast but he couldn't keep it down and he felt as miserable as he did when he woke up.

The Harlem's Paradise felt unusually empty when he entered it. He felt a chill as he walked up the steps to Cottonmouth's old office. Mariah stood there looking out the oval window. The same window that she had pushed her cousin from. She turned towards him with a smile, he didn't know what to expect from her really and he was drawn to that but right now he felt uncomfortable being there at the club.

"What's the matter with you?" She asked pointedly, raising an eyebrow. His hand reflexively shot up to touch his neck and he tried to maintain his usual cool composure but it didn't work. "I-" he tried to say but she cut him off. "Why does it look like someone tried to strangle you?" She demanded, gliding over to him and examining his marks. "You're so cold.." She felt his face, and her voice sounded concerned. He cursed himself for not wearing a scarf, he was wearing sunglasses inside so no one would think to question that fashion choice. "I just had a bad dream." He replied shakily, taking her hand away. "That's it."

"Really?" Mariah didn't seem convinced. "A bad dream caused you this much grief? How do you explain the marks on your neck then?" She put her hands on her hips and let looked up at him, her eyes demanding the truth. "I don't." He answered her truthfully. "Or at least I can't." He shrugged. "I don't know how to explain those. I don't know where they came from. It was just a dream." She didn't seem convinced but she left it at that, but he caught her staring at the marks all through their meeting.

"Do you ever dream about Cottonmouth? About what you did?" Shades asked her as she pulled on her coat to head out the door. She glanced over at him. "Does this have anything to do with your bad dream?" She laughed as she said it. He didn't answer. "Fine then. The answer is no. I think about Cornell, sure, but dream? Never. My dreams are clear. But I suppose my thoughts aren't. I think about him every time I enter this place but I wouldn't take back what I did, in truth. It was meant to be." Mariah said smoothly, and though her words sounded meaningful, she said them without meaning and without emotion. "Ok." He said plainly and she left. He stood there in the office alone and he glanced over at the portrait that had replaced Cottonmouth's old one, and he found that he didn't want to look at it after all and he turned away. In fact, he found that he wanted to leave as Mariah did.

As he walked out of the door and down the stairs to the main floor, he was startled to see a figure looming behind the window, a figure that looked suspiciously like Cottonmouth. He whirled around, confused, there had been no one in there when he left and when he did so, he found that it was in fact empty. Great, now he was hallucinating. He stared long and hard at the window but the figure didn't come back, so he gave up and walked out.

Cottonmouth did come back though, in his dreams. Shades was standing in the Harlem's Paradise with snakes coiling at his feet. They slithered all around him, coming from every direction, and he had never quite made the connection before that they were all cottonmouth snakes and diamondback ones too. There was a great silence in the air as well, then he noticed that the club was slowly receding into darkness, as if an abyss was swallowing it whole. He wanted to run but his feet felt nailed to the floor, he was powerless, a feeling he didn't like having. He was powerless as Cottonmouth came at him. The man appeared out of the darkness in front of Shades, as if he had just materialized. His eyes were even colder and hungrier as they had been before and when he walked towards Shades, the snakes cleared a path for him. "Get away from me!" Shades wanted to shout but when he opened his mouth, a deep black blood oozed out and cascaded down his face. Cottonmouth grinned, he had fangs like a snake, and he grabbed Shades by his jacket and pulled him close, "Weak." He whispered in Shades ear with a mocking tone. Shades was paralyzed as Cottonmouth's fangs punctured his neck and he felt himself falling.

He woke up gasping, sobbing actually, and he turned over and retched onto floor. His neck ached, the marks were there and bleeding. There were more bite marks all over his body and he didn't even remember any snakes biting him that time. They just kind of slithered and coiled without doing anything harmful. He ached all over and he couldn't stop shaking. All he could think about was what Cottonmouth had said to him. "Weak." That was what he was right now. He couldn't let anyone see him like this. Especially not Mariah. He stayed at home all day and resigned not to sleep.

The next day he was groggy and he couldn't stop yawning, he looked like a mess and he felt like one too. He felt like a fool when he saw Mariah, their meeting didn't last long but she could definitely tell something was wrong with him. He didn't sleep that night either.

He wasn't used to not sleeping he found, and when he was out eating, he passed out at he table and the waitress roused him and asked if he was ok. He wasn't ok but he just shrugged her off and when he stood up to leave, he got slightly disoriented and had to hold onto the table to keep from falling down. He was not doing great.

He could barely stop himself from running into people on the street. His skin was crawling more now than ever and he couldn't stop touching the scabs on his neck. He was a pale, shivering and sweating mess. Maybe Cottonmouth's death had been a mistake, but what could he have done about it? How was he to know that Mariah would do it? And he was going there to do it himself.. There was no way to reset anything that had taken place and now he was stuck with the dreams. And the fear. And the pain.

Shades stumbled down an alley and threw up in a trash can. He wasn't used to throwing up like this all the time, he really was ill. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve and he saw something move from the corner of his eye. It was a snake. He practically tore his gun out and fired repeatedly in its direction. He fired until he had used up the round and he found that there had never been a snake there. His heart was pounding and his hand shook, as he stared at the ground now marked with bullet holes. The snake hadn't been real. It was only something he had imagined in his sleep deprived state. 

He took off his glasses and rubbed a hand down his face. He let out a long deep sigh, this was not who he was. He needed to be better than this. Cottonmouth was not coming back. It was just a dream. They were all dreams. He put his shades back on and tucked his gun away, his phone pinged, it was from Mariah. She told him to meet her and she sent him the address to a building and that he needed to go to the rooftop. He found it a little strange that the building wasn't in a more desolate part of town, it seemed to busy for her liking but he did what she asked. Perhaps he could tell her about what was going on with him. Maybe she could even help. He was hopeful until he got up to the rooftop.

"Mariah?" He called, scanning the area. It didn't look like she was there yet but it seemed odd because she was always there first it seemed during their meet ups. Something definitely was off, he could feel it. The cool air gave him a slight chill but he had already been cold. He looked at his phone again to see if he had the right place but he couldn't find the texts that she sent. It was as though they had never existed. Shades was afraid, he didn't know what was happening to him. 

"Shades." A cool and confident voice said from behind him and his breath caught in his throat. "Cottonmouth." He choked out as he faced the man. "That's right, that's me." The man nodded, mocking him, for every step he took closer to Shades, the other took a step back. "This isn't right. It can't be! You're dead." He protested feebly as the man advanced on him. "If that's the case, then why are you so afraid, Shades?" Cottonmouth asked him with a smirk. He moved like an animal stalking his prey. "I-" He couldn't think of what to say. Why was he so afraid? Cottonmouth wasn't tangible. He was dead. 

He pulled out his gun and pointed it at Cottonmouth. "Back down." He threatened but the other only shook his head and advanced. He unloaded the bullets into the ghost before him and they disappeared into Cottonmouth as if they had been absorbed, leaving no damage. The other swatted the gun from his hand and it skittered away uselessly. Shades tripped and fell, still he pushed himself away from the other. "Come on, I didn't kill you! That was Mariah!" He protested feebly. "Yes.. So it was.." The man stopped, his eyes dark and full of hate. "But you're the one acting like you're the king when you're not." He stated coldly. "You'll never be the king." He hissed, advancing again.

Shades scrambled to his feet, he was reaching the end of the line. He needed to get past the other, he ran at Cottonmouth and swung at him, his fist came into contact with ice cold skin, and he flinched. He tried to dart away but Cottonmouth was too fast, he grabbed Shades and threw him back on the ground. Shades winced as Cottonmouth loomed over him, the buzz of the city had quieted down and it seemed like it was only him and Cottonmouth left in the world. "Don't do this.." He pleaded desperately but the snake did not pay him any mind. He grabbed Shades by the front of his shirt and hoisted him in the air. He moved with ease and not as though he was hoisting another person in the air. He writhed in Cottonmouth's grip but it was too strong. The man approached the edge of the roof and simply deposited Shades on the raised part of it that overlooked the street. 

"What are you doing?" Shades yelped as Cottonmouth released his grip. "You need me. I can still help you. I can help you take down Mariah. I won't overstep this time. I'll even help you with Diamondback and Luke Cage." He argued and was surprised when he heard confidence in his voice. Cottonmouth looked like he was considering the proposition but he shook his head laughing softly. "Always a cockroach, huh?" He released his grip and Shades fell. The last thing he saw before his body hit the car with a sickening crunch was Cottonmouth's white fangs glinting and then all he saw was darkness.

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Misty stared at the crime scene photos. It looked like Shades had been pushed from the building because no one would jump off backwards like that. But the crime didn't sit right with her, she couldn't imagine who would have done it. They had found his gun on the roof and bullet holes scattered around but it didn't appear that he had been shooting at anyone. There was no blood to indicate that anyone had been shot and how could he not have hit anyone? It didn't seem like the criminal to do that. Something was off.

Amazingly his glasses had stayed intact but his body was in rough shape. She was interrupted from her thoughts as Priscilla walked in. The inspector had a confused look on her face. "Take a look at these pictures that the coroner supplied of the body." She told her, pushing some pictures across the table. "I don't know what to think of them myself." She admitted honestly.

Misty picked up a picture, it was of the victims torso, she saw that he had peculiar spots all over his body and mostly on his arms. "Are.. Are those bite marks?" She asked incredulously, looking up at Priscilla who nodded. "Yes, those are bite marks. From snakes. He's covered in them. I don't know what to think of it." She shook her head in disbelief, crossing her arms. "And on his neck he has a particularly big bite." She pointed at a picture of the bite. "And he looked like shit before he even fell from the building. This guy was obviously into some deep shit. He was mess apparently."

"That's really strange.." Misty commented, glancing over all the pictures. What had happened to him exactly? Why did he have all those bites? Why had he deteriorated? Somehow she knew that this case was going to be a strange one.

She got up and pinned the pictures to the wall. At least he was out of the way, she could sleep a little sounder that night.


End file.
